From the video of the Virginia men’s basketball team’s reaction to being selected to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, it’s quite clear, they want another chance.
The roomful of players wanted this chance to redeem themselves from squandering a six-point lead with under a minute left in their ACC Tourney semifinal loss to NC State.
Players that had to endure a Saturday that saw upset-after-upset by bid thieves named Oregon, UAB, and yes, even the Wolfpack.
NC State proved its gratitude for Friday’s Virginia meltdown by beating North Carolina in the conference championship game and securing an automatic bid.
Late Saturday, and most of the day Sunday, UVA’s postseason fortunes appeared destined for the dreaded NIT.
As the NCAA Tournament selection show began, the so-called experts had Virginia nowhere near sniffing the field.
But somehow, Virginia passed the eye test of enough on the selection committee to gain entrance into the coveted Field of 68.
The Cavaliers will open play in Dayton against Colorado State. A win in Ohio has UVA advancing to a first-round game against Texas in Charlotte.
It’s no secret that most of the network talking heads (aka idiots) didn’t believe UVA deserved a bid.
For the record, I, for once, agree with the idiots. I don’t think they earned the right to play in meaningful postseason games.
And here’s why.
First, I was at the NC State game.
As well as nine games in DC leading up to Friday night’s semifinal nightcap.
That doesn’t qualify me as an expert; let’s go with simply, familiarity.
From someone that has attended about 25 ACC Tournaments , trust me, this one wasn’t an instant classic.
I saw plenty of ragged play, by every team.
The narrative that the ACC is weak, one that I have argued against all season, may in fact, be spot on.
But my contention that Virginia didn’t warrant additional playing time this year is contained in the final minute of incompetence by the entire team.
That minute began with ESPN giving the Cavaliers a 98.7 percent probability of winning.
In other words, it was almost impossible for State to win on their own merits, it would take a series of colossal mistakes and blunders by UVA to lose.
Virginia, inexplicably, did just that.
I am going to briefly mention the missed free throws.
Everyone is sick of reading, watching, and hearing about how terrible UVA is at shooting foul shots.
They have been an embarrassment at the charity stripe all season.
And guess what?
Until Friday, horrific foul shooting, somehow, hadn’t cost them a win.
Remember this team missed 10-of-11 from the foul line against Wake Forest – and won.
And even with the late misses on Friday, UVA could have found a way to not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
How?
Well, by having a couple of players on the blocks just in case Isaac McKneely were to miss the first free throw.
I know, it would be a rarity for McKneely to miss, but just in case he did miss, the odds of grabbing the errant shot would certainly be greater than having no one at the foul line.
I was sitting about 10 feet from the floor; even if a UVA player had not grabbed the rebound, the cluster muck to get the ball would have easily drained a few precious seconds more of clock.
Then, to not foul and allow NC State to advance the ball past midcourt without resistance, was just stupid.
Give Tony Bennett credit for owning this one.
In the postgame wake, err press conference, he admitted his players were instructed not to foul.
And everyone understands Bennett’s players follow his instructions.
For the simple reason that for the last minute on Friday, and the fact that UVA certainly didn’t pass the eye test, I would have had no problem if the selection committee had said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Did UVA deserve a bid?
Not worth the energy to debate this.
Now the so-called experts are saying that UVA won’t make it past Tuesday.
They may be right.
But the entire program has an opportunity to put the collapse of Friday night to bed.
The team is playing with house money from this point on.
Let’s see what they do with it.
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